Summary
Two of the most beloved superheroes in pop culture,Supermanand Goku, combine to pay homage to the late creator ofDragon Ball. On August 21, 2025, the world lost one of the pioneering godfathers of manga and anime culture in Akira Toriyama. The passing of such atrue master of the craftremains a devastating blow that many are still mourning.
Thankfully, as ScreenTime onXpoints out below, the tear-inducing variant cover by Ricardo Lopez forMy Adventures with Superman#4 by Josie Campbell and Pablo M. Collar pays homage to Akira Toriyama by duplicating the cover art for Toriyama’s final volume ofDragon Ball.
Tributes like those seen above showcase how, while those within the industry continue to mourn Toriyama’s death, they do so bycreating art in the form of touching tributes that help the artist and his art live forever.
My Adventures with Superman#4 Pays Tribute to Dragon Ball’s Final Cover
Available September 4, In Stores and Available Digitally Everywhere Comics are Sold
Dragon Ballas a brand has been instrumental in shaping pop culture as audiences know it today, including within comic book culture.Numerous titles have either taken direct inspiration from, or made passing references to the work of Akira Toriyama. Image Comics series likeDo a Powerbombcrafted their tournament-style storylinesafter those inDragon Ball,while characters likeStatic perform techniques like the Kamehameha. And that’s allbeforeToriyama’s passing. Afterward, prolific creators likeJim Lee paid respects, and now, so does Ricardo Lopez.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and other media created by Akira Toriyama all had a monumental influence across the globe, and it only makes sense for the industry he gave so much to to give back to him, honoring his memory with things like the above piece of art. The seriesMy Adventures with Supermanis clearly influenced by anime itself, and so Lopez’s art makes for the perfect marriage between mediums. It’s especially perfect when noting the influence the Superman character had on Akira Toriyama molding Goku into who he is today.
Superman’s Influence on Akira Toriyama
There is No Goku Without Superman
There is a reason whySuperman and Goku have the same origin. It’s because Akira Toriyama was heavily influenced by Superman when crafting Goku’s origin story, all about an alien who ends up becoming Earth’s savior after crash landing from another planet.A piece of Superman media paying homage to a previous Toriyama cover featuring Goku is a beautiful full circle moment. All art can inspire other artists, but in this sense, the Superman artwork is inspired by Akira Toriyama decades after Toriyama was inspired bySuperman.
My Adventures with Superman#4 releases from DC Comics on September 4
